Minnesota wildfires

Are wildfire records common in Minnesota?

Minnesota averages about 2.1 wildfire records a year since 2000, 35th of 48 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2025 (6). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Minnesota records 3.4 wildfire records since 1996, 40th of 48 states and territories by that measure.

1. 1. Hawaii 441
2. 2. New Jersey 241
3. 3. Puerto Rico 137
4. 4. California 102
5. 5. Florida 91
6. 6. Oklahoma 88
7. 7. Delaware 87
8. 8. Washington 82
9. 9. Oregon 77
10. 10. Colorado 64
11. 40. Minnesota 3.4

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Minnesota have the most wildfire records?

Per square mile, Cook County leads Minnesota: 5 days with a wildfire record since 1996, 3.4 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, St. Louis County has the most wildfire records (8 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

1. Cook County 3.4 (5)
2. Olmsted County 3.1 (2)
3. Lake County 2.8 (6)
4. Mower County 2.8 (2)
5. Waseca County 2.4 (1)
6. Dodge County 2.3 (1)
7. Cottonwood County 1.6 (1)
8. Nobles County 1.4 (1)
9. Todd County 1.1 (1)
10. Crow Wing County 1.0 (1)
11. Kittson County 0.9 (1)
12. St. Louis County 0.8 (8)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is fire season in Minnesota?

44% of its wildfire records since 1996 fell in April and May. The busiest month is May (7 records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest wildfire records in Minnesota

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are wildfire records becoming more frequent in Minnesota?

Minnesota's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent wildfire records in Minnesota

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for wildfire records in Minnesota

FEMA has declared 10 disasters in Minnesota for wildfire, counting its incident type and declarations that name fire in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 0 were major disasters, the latest on May 14, 2025.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next

• Cook County: the county's whole recordThe Minnesota county with the most wildfire records per square mile
• Wildfires across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in MinnesotaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Hail in Minnesota15,756 records
• Severe thunderstorm wind in Minnesota13,697 records
• Winter storms in Minnesota12,156 records